NATO member admits using museum tanks to train Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn) - According to RT news agency, Denmark has confirmed that it has just transferred a batch of heavy armored vehicles to Kiev, although an expert warned that the shipment could "soon become scrap".
Denmark has admitted to using museum exhibits to train Ukrainian troops to drive German-made Leopard 1 tanks. Specifically, a statement released on September 8 said that at least six heavy armored vehicles were borrowed from several museums for training purposes earlier this year.
Copenhagen reached an agreement with the Netherlands and Germany in February to jointly purchase about 100 Leopard 1A5 tanks for Kiev. The project also includes training for Ukrainian soldiers.
According to RT, Denmark operated Leopard 1A5 tanks until 2005. Copenhagen sold around 100 of these tanks to the German FFG company in 2010, and several of these heavy armored vehicles were put into museums. According to the statement, the Danish army then decided to borrow them back to start training work shortly after the decision to supply these tanks to Ukraine.
On September 8, the Danish military confirmed that it had delivered the first batch of Leopard 1 tanks to Kiev. The statement said 10 pieces of heavy equipment had arrived in Ukraine, adding that “more equipment is on the way.”
“Together with Germany, Denmark is providing nearly 100 tanks to Ukraine,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. According to the Danish military, the tanks need refurbishment because they have “not been in service for several years.”
The announcement came just a day after a prominent German military expert expressed skepticism about the role of this type of tank on the battlefield. Specifically, retired Colonel Ralph Thiele, who served in the Planning Department of the German Defense Minister and the Private Office of the NATO Supreme Command, told Swiss television station SRF that the heavy armored vehicles could be “useful” but were unlikely to be “game-changing.”
“The old Leopard tanks had some weaknesses, especially in side protection,” said Mr. Thiele, now president of the German Military-Political Association, adding that they were “vulnerable to hits… on the side and their firepower was lower than that of later models.”
The retired colonel also asserted that the tanks would become “vulnerable” as soon as the enemy learned how to fight them. When asked whether it was possible to say that the West was supplying Ukraine with “scrap,” Thiele replied, “if one wants to refer to it in a derisive way, yes.” The military expert also noted that “if used improperly, even new systems can quickly become scrap.”
